by test
He shuddered. He knew that if he did fall into enemy hands, his fate would be grim.
He still had hope. He still had his prayers. And he had the memory of Samantha’s sweet face to get him through any kind of hell that came his way. Lord Devlin loathed him so much that when he had been around the man he could literally smell his burning hatred.
He coughed and then smiled charmingly at a woman that was glaring at him. Her eyes suddenly softened and he winked at her. His charm with the ladies was known throughout the galaxy. He could make a woman forget about her husband with just one glance. He was quite proud of his talent. It had served him well in life.
If only it had been enough to keep Samantha. But then Samantha was different from any other woman he’d ever known. Samantha was amazingly strong, resilient and courageous. But she went after criminals with ferocity he found alarming. She was one woman that had her own sense of justice. That sense, like his talent had served her well. However, he had always been afraid her keen sense would one day fail her, and he’d become a widower.
Quickening his pace, he weaved in and out of the crowd. The aroma of food being grilled on an outside grill was nearly the undoing of him. He was as quick with the ladies as he was at picking someone’s pocket. In the blink of an eye, he spotted his mark. The man was wearing a designer suit. If he took his money, he’d be none the worse for wear. As usual, the man was in a big hurry to get nowhere fast. Being careful to keep his face down, he stepped into his path, bumping his shoulder hard. Using his hands to steady the off balance man, he apologized,
“Sorry about that, sir.”
“Well, the next time, make sure to watch where you’re going. I don’t have time for this,”
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The man barked, brushing off the area of his suit that Tyler had touched. The man hurried away, leaving Tyler to look down to eye the bulging wallet in his right hand. His score would be more than enough to fill his empty stomach.
Tyler quickly paid the man behind the eatery booth and bit hungrily into his burger, eating on the move.
He heard the heavy footfalls behind him. Swallowing the last bite of his juicy burger, he yet again quickened his pace. He could smell alcohol mingled with cigarette smoke and it nearly turned his stomach. Someone was hot on his trail. He resisted the urge to look behind him. The sound of heavy gravitational boots was a dead giveaway. Sweat beaded out across his forehead.
If his hunch were correct, the person following him wouldn’t hesitate to shoot him in the back.
He pushed past a group of teenagers and shrugged when one of the older girls tried grabbing for him.
Unfortunately, his charm worked at the best of times and the worst of times. He didn’t even have to speak it flowed from him in long leisurely waves. Yes. He was a lucky fellow indeed. Now all that he needed to do was survive until the next sunrise.
“Cassidy,
stop where you are or I’ll shoot!” Tyler heard a craven and slurred voice shout out to him. Yep, his hunch had been correct. A shot rang out, and in his haste to duck for cover he knocked over a cart of flowers. Bunches of violets, roses and lilies went flying through the air.
He sneezed.
He chanced to look behind him and his heart fell when he recognized Fred Crenshaw. For some reason he’d still hoped that his intuition had been wrong. Cripes. He did have the most horrid luck this side of New Earth. The women adored him but the men well that was an entirely different story.
Tyler
would shoot back at Crenshaw. But then he’d risk hurting an innocent bystander and that wasn’t something he wanted weighing on his conscience. The death of Jefferson’s wife had hit him hard. Damn, he hadn’t even known her first name. Her life had been taken…and it would haunt him until the end of his days.
Tyler winced. Gunfire ripped through the air. To his extreme relief it blasted right past him and hit a brick wall. So far, someone seemed to be watching over him.
“Seems you need some more target practice! Or, you’re as blind as a bat!” he taunted.
Darting his eyes forward, he searched for an escape from the busy marketplace.
He had been insane placing himself in such a risky circumstance to begin with and now he was going to meet his maker, in front of a toyshop of all places!
He’d had enough. Tyler gritted his teeth together and pulled out his pistol. He owed Fred some back pay. The faces of children and terrified mothers stared at him, as Fred continued to shoot. He had to leave. He could make a stand with Fred another day, but he wasn’t going to shoot back at him, not with all of the innocents that surrounded him.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a man attempting to park his hover mobile.
He pointed his pistol in the man’s face. “Beat it! ”
The man’s eyes widened incredulously and he released the steering wheel with no hesitation. Reaching forward, Tyler helped the man out of the driver’s seat. The hover car was in stationary mode, but it still hovered about a meter off the ground. Tyler jumped up into the hover mobile and stared good-naturedly down at the dumbstruck man.
“Good doing business with you,” Tyler drawled, tipping his imaginary hat at the man who merely gaped back at him. Tyler lifted the hover car high up into the air and winced when it emitted a horrible screeching noise. This definitely wasn’t a luxury hover car. Why did life keep RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 25
on handing him lemons? Hell, these lemons weren’t even good enough to make lemonade out of.
He flew through the air and kept a wary eye on Crenshaw who was now following him.
God! He just couldn’t seem to get a break. He never should’ve run out on Samantha. They could have worked things outs. If he’d swallowed the fear he felt at losing her, he wouldn’t be on the run. More importantly, he’d still have the love of his life by his side. Damn, how he loved that woman! Sometimes, though he wished she could be a bit more like her twin, Charlotte. Charlotte had the sweet face and none of the sass that Samantha had…. Sometimes, Samantha’s spunk could be her undoing.
He weaved in and out of the thick traffic. He felt his heart skip a beat. He nearly collided with a hover mobile that was being driven by an elderly man. He could see the tip of his stark white hair in the driver’s seat but little else. By the looks of it the man had to be pushing one hundred and twenty years of age. He felt his hands beneath his gloves grow hot and quickly looked over his shoulder to see where Crenshaw was.
Promotional holographic ads lit up the sky. Music news bulletins and God knows what else filled his ears. He tried to drone out the overwhelming noise and felt his eyelids growing heavy with exhaustion. He needed sleep. He needed, Samantha.
Tyler hadn’t been able to procure a cup of coffee in twelve hours and his system was sorely in need of his caffeine high. He swerved to the side. Gunfire zinged the left side of his car. “Holy shit that was close!” His momentary distraction nearly caused him to slam into a metal post. He didn’t fancy turning this car into an accordion while he was still in it.
He zoomed past a holographic projection of his wanted poster and frowned when he noticed that it was a bad shot of him. They could have at least taken his good side. He snorted when he realized that he was low on fuel and searched his surroundings for a means of escape.
Crenshaw was still fast on his heels. Tyler was thrown forward, when his stupid hover car let out a loud belch. If Crenshaw didn’t shoot him out of the sky, this bucket of bolts was about to have a massive coronary. Another volley of laser shots struck his ‘ borrowed’ car. His mind raced. He was a clever thief. He had even self-proclaimed himself to be the King of Thieves in this galaxy but he’d never been faced with this type of situation before. He was out of his element. Being charged with murder on a hostile planet had definitely never been in his plans when he had set out to seduce and pilfer from the enchanting Lady Devlin.
He lurched forward again. “Crenshaw, you fat bastard, I’ve had enough of
you jerking me around!” Taking his one hand, he flipped on the car’s computerized system. A frail female voice blared out at him.
“What may I do to serve you, Master?” it asked.
He quirked his eyebrow, evidently the owner of the car had a superiority complex.
Bloody fantastic. He hated those kinds of men. The sort that was weak, sniveling and usually cruising for a bruising. A quest for dominance didn’t make you a strong man. Unfortunately, he’d run into his fair share of that sorry sort. He needed a miracle to get through this alive, and right now, it didn’t seem as if any were coming his way.
“Call up your weapons,” Tyler clipped out. He sent the hover car into a dive. Narrowly missing a cluster of shots that would have most certainly disabled him. “Oh, Samantha, I wish you were here,” he said aloud, somehow hoping if he voiced his wish, she’d magically appear out of thin air. She really had a knack of getting out of these situations. It was almost as if she had a leprechaun as her constant companion. Memories of her filled his every waking moment, and haunted his dreams.
“I do not understand, Master. I am a class C vehicle. I am not equipped with such RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 26
machinery,” The sickly female voice said. A loud screeching noise filled the car. Not only had he ‘ borrowed’ a car low on fuel but to make matters worse it didn’t have any weapons.
“Just great. Not the answer I was hoping for, Car. What kind of a hover car company makes their vehicles without being outfitted with any defensive systems?” It simply didn’t make sense. Everyone knew that the only truly safe planet in the Milky Way was his home world of Earth.
“I was created by the Antigone Corporation. They are advocates against air rage. They have a motto, if you have no defenses no one will attack you.”
“Some bloody motto. I’d like to get my hands on the guy that thought that up. I am being attacked right now and if I don’t do something about it, my ass is grass and that hover vehicle behind me is the fucking lawnmower!”
Crenshaw fired another volley of shots at him.
“Sir, I will have to land soon, or else, we will crash.” The sickly female voice made him roll his eyes.
“Son of a bitch!” He pounded his hand on the steering wheel.
It had been a day from hell and now incomprehensibly it was bloody well getting worse!
He had nowhere to go. Wherever he ran he’d be tracked down. He should’ve just stayed put and faced the gallows. He probably would have been better off. Then he saw a sight that nearly took his breath away.
If he could just manage to reach the transport ship he might be able to talk his way into getting aboard. In fact, he knew he’d be able to talk his way aboard. He did have a silver tongue. And if all else failed, he could drop his family name into the negotiation. A mere slip of his family’s name did wonders for gaining admission to any class of transport space ship. Before he could reach the transport though, he had to come up with a large enough distraction to occupy Crenshaw, and he had to hope that the hover car stayed aloft long enough for him to ditch it.
And with his tired brain he was sorely taxed to even think of that. Usually distractions were as easy for him to create as breathing was.
Then he jumped in his seat. Crenshaw’s irritating voice came blaring out through the intercom. He reached to turn it off when he heard something that made his blood run cold.
“I wouldn’t try that if I were you. My computer hacked into your computer. I now have control over your vehicle.”
“Oh,
Shit! Okay, where’s my bloody leprechaun?” Tyler rolled his eyes. He stared helplessly down at the steering wheel.
Always one to challenge anything including Crenshaw’s announcement he tried to maneuver the car. The steering wheel wouldn’t budge.
“Double fucking shit! ” he cursed.
“Well, now don’t we have a dirty mouth for such a man of distinction!” Crenshaw’s cruel laughter made his skin crawl.
“Kiss my ass, you stupid prick!” he shot back, checking to make sure that he had everything where he wanted it. If he didn’t get this right the first time, he wouldn’t have a second chance.
“You know, Cassidy. The bounty does say dead or alive. What do you think? Should I choose dead or alive? You know it’s quite a hard decision to make,” Crenshaw teased.
Tyler craned his neck to spot the bastard’s vehicle. “Over here, Cassidy!” Tyler met Crenshaw’s gaze through the back window.
Tyler flashed his middle finger at Crenshaw gaining some small satisfaction at the rude RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 27
gesture. “Up yours, asshole! ” Tyler yelled, totally pissed off. This had gone far enough.
Then with dawning realization and dread that started in the pit of his stomach and worked its way up he watched Crenshaw veer off and fly to a safe distance.
Oh, no! He knew what that meant. It meant he had to get out, and get out fast!
Tyler took his hands off of the steering wheel and desperately reached for the door handle when he heard Crenshaw’s creepy laughter and then his voice.
“I choose dead,” Fred said, firing at Tyler’s car. Multiple hard impact shots hit Tyler’s car, causing it to explode into tiny little fragments. The burning pieces hailed down onto the streets of New Monaco.
* * * *
Tyler propelled himself from the vehicle with only seconds to spare. He began free falling. Burning wreckage tore down around him in large molten chunks. He winced when one small piece snagged his leg.
He felt hot sticky blood seeping down his leg, but grit his teeth together to keep from crying out. For at the moment, he had more pressing matters to attend to...like how he was going to keep himself from becoming a pancake on the sidewalk below. He had to think quickly. Now, he could definitely identify with Samantha’s world.
He reached for the mini-parachute that he wore on his back beneath his many layers of clothing, and thanked his lucky stars for his rather questionable choice of professions.
As a highly skilled cat burglar, he was sometimes called upon to scale trendy, expensive apartment buildings that were several stories high. As an added precaution, he had learned to make sure that he had all of the necessary gear that he would need in case of an unforeseen emergency. The parachute expelled, propelling him upwards. The force of the upwards jerk caused a shooting pain to go running through his injured leg.
He searched the sea of hover mobiles for Crenshaw’s and squinted his eyes when they began tearing. At last, he saw something that made him expel a long shuddering groan. He tried to take control of the situation but there was no stopping it. He grunted when his parachute snagged on a gargoyle.
Why there was a statue of a gargoyle on a building so high up was beyond his reasoning.
He struggled with the intense frustration he felt rioting inside of him. Crossing his arms he began considering his ludicrous predicament.
Before he could get his scattered thoughts together his ears perked up, at the sound of weapons being charged. His eyes widened. His heart stopped. Right at that instant, he locked gazes with Crenshaw, who was by now speeding straight at him.
The man just didn’t give up!
“Holy Shit! ” Tyler cursed, reaching inside of his trench coat for his pocketknife.
He hastily cut through the parachute lines. His entire body stiffened, as he realized that he was about to be used for target practice. Crenshaw was indeed a sick and twisted asshole.
“Please, by all that is good in this God forsaken world, don’t let me die, like I have a great big bull’s eye on my forehead!” Tyler sighed with relief. The lines gave way, just before Crenshaw’s laser tore into the gargoyle. Bits of stone mortar fell around him, and he brushed a piece out of his hair, as he did the one thing that he should have never done. He looked down.
He didn’t have any more tricks up his sleeve.
Now what was he going to do?
Tyler swallowed thickly. He caught sight
of a hover mobile not far from him. If she didn’t move too quickly, he could ride the wind, and land on her roof.
RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 28
If she moved too quickly he could still ride the wind, and become a mere smudge on the sidewalk. He took a deep breath, and prayed he would hit her hover mobile.
He impacted with a great thud, and groaned. He felt every bone in his body cry out in agony. Climbing across the roof, he reached down to knock on the passenger window. The woman rolled down the window. Once he saw how large the opening was, he slid inside. His injured leg hurt like a bugger. If he weren’t in such good physical condition, it would be hampering his movements right now. He glanced down to see how badly it was bleeding. Then realizing he had to give an explanation to the driver, he prepared to give one of the best performances of his lifetime.
Tyler turned to the woman and gave her one of his most charming smiles. Her eyes were widened in shock, and she gripped the steering wheel so hard that he just knew she was going to leave an imprint.
The woman’s suspicious eyes narrowed, then they relaxed slightly. She quickly studied his profile, before emitting a blood-curdling scream. Which caused her to nearly rear end the hover mobile in front of her. His life flashed before his eyes—again.